Building My Own Computer ?

[buckaro]

Not sure about the best site, but ebuyer seems cheapest.

Also a suggestion for a case and PSU, the antec sonata III (link). It about the only case and CPU combo which is any good.

[SoloCamo]

Originally Posted by buckaro

The X850xt is about 3-4 years old now, and i believe the 9600GT would significantly improve graphics performance overall. That said it depends on what games your playing (any examples?), otherwise sticking with the x850Xt for now and upgrading later could do the trick.

The x850xt was a great card for it's time, and even on todays games it can still pump out medium settings on average. However, it only has SM2.0 and that severely limits it's usage on some games, in fact some games won't even run on the card.

I used to run an x800pro and to overcome the lack of sm3.0 support I just picked up a x1950pro which is roughly 10fps faster on average than my old x800pro (which I had at the performance of an x800xtpe btw) and it runs all my games on high settings for the most part. (crysis need not apply)

[johnross2007]

It all depends on how much you want this pc to do. You can get an older card that will let you game, though possibly not games not out yet.

If you want to use DirectX10, you will have to get Vista. I personally suggest getting vista for a gaming pc. The big bugs have been worked out. You might have a problem if you use an old printer, or something like that, but otherwise you will be fine. Don't forget that this also requires a DX10 card.

I believe quad-cores are superior for video and picture editing (correct me if wrong), but for gaming, the benefit is greatly diminished.

[KarmaKiller]

Well, your right. Most of the time dual cores do perform better in some games. But, if the game is multi core threaded, then the Quad makes a big difference. Not only that, but it's very very future proof too. When all the games and apps start coming out that are mutli core threaded (which that's more and more everyday) then you'll be happy you stuck to the Quad.
Also, something else to think about. Let's say a game you play is only dual core threaded, then it'll just run on 2/4 cores, leaving you with 2 cores for AV, Music, etc.
Intels Quads are made up of 2x dual core chips, so your not gonna be missing out on any FPS or anything like that. If your building a new system, you might as well get a quad.
Just IMO of course..


EDIT:
A side note. Intel 65nm cores are 30% faster clock for clock then AMD's. Now Intels 45nm cores are 20% faster then their 65nm cores. So Intels are the faster chip right now...

[geddes-i]

Ok well i might stick with my x850xt just now to save some money and buy a nvidia 9600gt or something like at later on. I mean i can play newish games using just my current computer and a radeon 9600 so surely the x850xt cant be 2 bad. Ok so should i get vista ultimate 32 bit or 64 bit, or just get home premium ?
And should i definitely get quad core ? I will mainly be gaming as i say so...

And yea ebuyer does seem cheap for parts so stick with that just now i think.

Oh and also can anyone recommend a good case thats light and enough room for hardware of today to fit inside ? im not too bothered about looks to be honest but something light with lots of room inside would be great. Colours such as piano black would be nice.

Thanks for all your help !

[KarmaKiller]

Well, on the Vista question. It depends on what all you plan on installing in your system. If you plan on having 4 gigs or RAM, or more, then you'll need 64 bit Vista.
If you plan on sticking under 4gigs of RAM, then 32 bit will do the trick. As far as Ultimate or Home, that's up to you. In all honesty, I don't know all the differences, so I'll leave that up to someone else here.

About the Quad, again, that's up to you. If it were me, I'd get a Quad to future proof, like I said earlier. But depending on your budget, and how much $ you drop on other components, you may not have enough left.

[geddes-i]

ok
can anyone throw together a list using:
32 bit vista home premium
2 gigs ram
dual core processor of some sort preferably a good one
a trustworthy psu with a good wattage
a good motherboard capable for pci expressx16. a good board thats great for games if there is.
and a hard drive say with 200Gb or more room
and a decent case, not so bothered bout the looks but black is nice and with good ventilation.
as for the gpu i will stick with my x850xt to cut down on the costs but i will upgrade at a later date
cheers again
Iain

[pullmyfoot]

oops

[geddes-i]

?? oops ?

[pullmyfoot]

i posted by accident. well anyway ok since i did lemme make you a nice list

CPU (120) - http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...520,4294952945
Ram (40) - http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...239,4294959063
Mobo (60) - http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...50000,12,50509
PSU (33) - http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...ey=11259,50121
GFX (116) - http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx...0000&InMerch=1
HD (53) - http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...60000,42240000

i like this case but its really up to you man. case is all personal preferance
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...42080000,50915

all that is 400+. then get the OS with the remaining money

for a little more you can get an 8800GT instead of a 9600GT which is faster in games
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...50544,48070000